Private banker at centre of Singapore 1MDB probe leaves firm

SINGAPORE - The private banker whose accounts were frozen by Singapore authorities in relation to an investigation into Malaysian state fund 1MDB has left Swiss bank BSI.

According to Bloomberg, Mr Yak Yew Chee, who was a senior vice president at BSI, left the bank in February.

"He is no longer employed by BSI", a spokeswoman at the Switzerland-based bank told Bloomberg.

Mr Yak was the first name to emerge in the Singapore government's probe into 1MDB. He applied to the High Court to access his bank accounts in February, which had been frozen as part of the investigations.

The application was subsequently withdrawn.

The case that rocked Malaysia: 1MDB

Every time 1MDB borrowed money, large amounts of the cash were quickly misappropriated, according to investigators. The money followed a circuitous path, and roughly US$1 billion landed in the private bank accounts of Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak.

1MDB borrowed about US$1.8 billion for a joint venture with Saudi oil company PetroSaudi International. About US$1 billion of the cash went to a Seychelles company called Good Star Ltd. A co-founder of PetroSaudi, Prince Turki bin Abdullah, received US$24.5 million from Good Star before transferring US$20 million to Mr Najib via an intermediary.

Two bonds worth a total of US$3.5 billion were sold for 1MDB by Goldman Sachs to fund the purchase of power plants. 1MDB was supposed to pay money for a guarantee on the bonds to a unit of Abu Dhabi's IPIC called Aabar Investments PJS. Instead, the funds went to the similarly named Aabar Investments PJS Ltd.

From Aabar BVI, about US$637 million went to a company called Blackstone Asia Real Estate Partners. Another US$463 million went from Aabar BVI to two mutual funds in the Caribbean island of Curaçao and then onto Blackstone Asia Real Estate Partners, which transferred a total of $170 million to Mr. Najib’s bank accounts.

Of the US$1.05 billion Mr. Najib received in his accounts, only US$80 million appears to clearly originate with Saudi Arabia. Another US$120 million came via an intermediary based in Saudi Arabia. At least US$20 million of that US$120 million has been traced clearly back to 1MDB by investigators. The remaining US$850 million came via Tanore Finance and Blackstone Asia.

1MDB sold US$3 billion in bonds via Goldman Sachs to fund a real-estate joint venture with Abu Dhabi. 1MDB transferred US$1.27 billion ended up in a British Virgin Islands company called Tanore Finance Corp, which then transferred US$680 million to Mr. Najib’s accounts.

On July 20, 2016, US Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch announced the filing of civil forfeiture complaints seeking the forfeiture and recovery of more than US$1 billion in assets associated with an international conspiracy to launder funds misappropriated from a Malaysian sovereign wealth fund 1MDB.

Riza Aziz, co-founder of Red Granite Pictures, was accused in US lawsuits of using US$100 million dollars that was diverted from Malaysian state development fund 1MDB in a money-laundering scheme, to finance the film.

Produced by Riza Aziz's Red Granite Pictures, The Wolf of Wall Street is expected to make another US100 million, according to industry analysts in the wake of the US lawsuits to seize assets acquired allegedly with stolen 1MDB funds.

PM Najib Razak and his wife Rosmah Mansoor in a minor pilgrimage at Mecca in March 2016. Najib has repeatedly denied wrongdoing over 1MDB allegations. US Department of Justice did not name him in its lawsuits but mentioned the involvement of a "Malaysian Official 1'.

A photo of a Park Laurel apartment in New York city. US Department of Justice said among the properties allegedly bought with stolen 1MDB funds is a US$33.5 million condominium at the Park Laurel. The purchase was made by a shell company allegedly controlled by Mr Riza Aziz, the step-son of PM Najib.

TwentyOne Angullia Park in Orchard Boulevard, where Mr Low Taek Jho owns a penthouse bought for $42.91 million in 2013, and another unit bought for $11.53 million. Singapore authorities have prohibited any dealing in the units since February 2016.

In March, the Wall Street Journal reported that deposits into personal accounts of Malaysia's prime minister totaled more than US$1 billion (S$1.4 billion) - hundreds of millions more than previously identified.

Yak Yew Chee, a senior private banker with Swiss bank BSI, was the first name to emerge from the Singapore probe into 1MDB, after it was reported that he was seeking access to his bank accounts which were frozen as part of the investigations.

In January, Malaysia's attorney-general said on in January that US$681 million (S$974 million) transferred into Prime Minister Najib Razak's personal bank account was a gift from the royal family in Saudi Arabia.

Malaysians, eager to see if bank details that were published in the report were Madam Rosmah's, have been transferring RM1 (36 Singapore cents) to her account, liberal news portal Malaysian Insider reported.

The development fund, which owns a large portfolio of power plants, has missed payments on the bridge loan that was due end-December and its lenders were keen to see it paid before they had to write it down in first-quarter earnings, bankers said.

Malaysia's indebted and controversy-ridden state investor 1MDB will be left as a skeletal structure and possibly dissolved under a debt repayment plan in which most of its assets will be sold, sources with direct knowledge of the matter said.

Malaysian billionaire Krishnan is preparing to settle a $550 million loan owed by troubled state fund 1MDB, four sources familiar with the matter said - a last-minute reprieve for the fund whose debt woes are pressuring the ringgit and the country's sovereign credit rating.

Regarded as a cross between a sovereign wealth fund and a private investment vehicle, with Prime Minister Najib Razak chairing its advisory board, 1MDB is struggling under the burden of $11 billion in borrowed money.

According to Reuters, Mr Yak handled the lucrative 1MDB account after joining BSI in 2009. He is also believed to have been the private banker of Malaysian businessman Low Taek Jho, better known as Jho Low, who has been accused of having personal transactions with 1MDB.

Court papers had revealed that he earned more than $27 million in salary and bonuses while employed at BSI from 2011 to 2015.

The troubled 1MDB has been the subject of various investigations by authorities in Singapore, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the United Sates and Hong Kong.

In Singapore, the Commercial Affairs Department and the Monetary Authority of Singapore seized a "large number of bank accounts" linked to the alleged financial misappropriation at the fund in January this year.